art by Rainbow Carnage.  Last fall when I was in Jamaica, transiting Saturn made a square to my Mars.  Saturn is the planet that causes restriction – it brings delays, disappointments, and can cause us to feel overworked.  Mars in our chart shows where we are energized, inspired, and how we go about getting things done.  

Having just gone through a major transit of Pluto to my Mars, my  Mars is pretty well activated.  I speak up for myself, get plenty of exercise to activate that Mars energy, and set good boundaries, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when Saturn first squared my Mars when I was on vacation in Jamaica last fall.  As it happened, I turned my vacation into a fitness bootcamp by getting serious (Saturn) about exercise (Mars), but I also got trapped in the hotel room when I was so eaten up by bugs that I couldn’t venture outside.  My husband Rich took off for the beach, leaving me peacefully reading on the veranda until I couldn’t find the key to lock the room which effectively trapped me (Saturn) inside the room, unable to do anything (Mars).  I later found the key right where Rich said it was, on the dresser, but meanwhile I had a powerful Saturn/Mars experience.

So yesterday Rich and I were up in Asheville for a couple of days, and he had a meeting there Monday morning.  I had a whole list of cool things I was going to do with the dog while Rich was at his meeting (he left at the crack of dawn), but when I got dressed and was ready to go, I realized he had taken the car keys, effectively trapping me in the room again!  Sure enough, that was the exact second hit of the transit of Saturn in a square to my  Mars.

As Saturn transits go that could have gone a lot worse and I really had to laugh.  Instead of gallivanting around Asheville (Mars), I worked (Saturn) all morning.  Fortunately I was able to get a lot done, because Saturn really does ultimately reward us when we knuckle down to our responsibilities.